Overview

What is Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans. Anthropology is the only discipline that seeks to understand all aspects of human life, including past and present social and cultural processes and biological adaptations. It does so by focusing on human variation in time and space, with four traditionally recognized sub-disciplines: archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. As a consequence of its broad focus, anthropology is also an integrative discipline that brings together scholarly work in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

Cultural Anthropology deals with the social lives of people around the world, including our own society: economic systems, legal practices, kinship, religions, medical practices, folklore, arts and political systems, as well as the interrelationship of these systems in environmental adaptation and social change.

Archaeology focuses on the material remains of human societies from the remote and recent past with emphasis on reconstructing and understanding past modes of human cultural adaptation and change.

Physical Anthropology describes and compares world human biology. The focus is on humans and their primate order, seeking to document and understand the interplay of culture and biology in the course of human evolution and adaptation.

Linguistics deals with varied aspects of human language and the characteristics of nonhuman communication systems, to achieve an understanding of past and present human language systems and their significance in social life.